EATING THROUGH CROATIA

How do you say "bon appetit" in your country? A jolly waiter in Porec asked us that and we were stumped! He went around asking other tables and they all had answers. Not us... "Eat, lah"? "Makan, makan" ? We can only say "shiok"!

The country's cuisine is influenced by its neighbours. In our first few days, we had a surfeit of grilled stuff - raznjici (kebabs), cevapcici (meat fingers, instead of balls) - typical of the Austro-Hungarian regions. Often we get a side dish of paprika sauce (somehow I can't replicate the flavour at home - it must be the paprika itself), which goes better with the bread than the cheese spread that it's served with. And get this, dormouse is a delicacy, says a national tourism brochure!

At a konoba in Plitvice, we just had to order meat "cooked under a bell", as the menu says. Alas, we didn't get to see the bell. Two huge spits occupied the middle of the restaurant. Many roadside konobas we passed by had a pig or lamb turning in an outdoor spit. But we never found the opportunity to pull over and try the food.

In Istria and throughout Dalmatia, there was a lot of pasta. The local pasta in Istria is called fuzi. And we thoroughly enjoyed it at a restaurant recommended by Sonja at Matiki House B&B. It was served with wild asparagus, which was in season in April. In Krk, we had a different type of pasta (I dunno what it's called), which was served with gulas (goulash, as we know it).

In Dubrovnik, I actually succumbed to pizza. Mainly because I was getting tired of grilled meat and fish and there are NO Chinese restaurants around! It was thin-crust wood-fired pizza. It was nice until I did the stupid! "Haiyah, how hot can ang moh chilli powder be!" I thought as I sprinkled it generously over my half of the pizza. I mean, a bibik must have her spice, right? Otherwise no kick! Right, it was a move that made me cry copious tears - and empty our bottles of water! The chilli was hotter than chilli padi. Cross my heart!

You can't get away from fish as you drive along the narrow stretch of Croatia that is sandwich between the Adriatic Sea and Bosnia. So, I had to force myself to eat fish, even though it wasn't Friday! The catch was fresh, so there wasn't any fishy smell. But we didn't like the boiled green veggie that accompanied the swimmers at most restaurants. It's Swiss chard or blitva, as the locals call it. It tastes like beet without the sweetness - just the flavour of soil. The only one we finished was the one at Giannino's, which was mixed with mashed potatoes.

Order mixed fish and you get more than just fins and scales - you get shells and tentacles!!! Frutti di mare, the waiter shrugged when we learnt it the hard way. "Pesci" will also get you the mixed seafood. I dunno why the restaurants don't use that term - "seafood". It would have been clearer to poor me. I stuck my spoon in to try the squid-ink rizoto (as it's spelt) - water helped to dilute the allergens - but not the octopus, nor the brudet, which is something like bouillabaise. Apparently the flavour of the stew depends on which "fish" goes into the pot first.
The appetiser spread at Sperun looked really yummy. But on closer inspection, you can spot sardines and other unmentionable swimming things on the table!

Then there's pasticada, another Dalmatian specialty. We had it only once! Why? Because the beef (or horse) is stuffed with lard and stewed in wine and spices. It's served with gnocchi (no-kick cos it's not our favourite pasta). But we didn't eat like this at every meal.
Here's a yummy healthy tuna sandwich. And below, we OD'd on GREEN salads at a restaurant not recommended by our Dubrovnik host. One look at his girth and you can tell he wasn't a regular patron of the eatery!